What and why you should know about Wi-Fi

It is impossible for anyone living in the urban areas not to have heard of ‘Wi-Fi’ and most of us are under the impression that this is related to internet access without wires but through a privately owned gateway. Most of us don’t bother about this new concept because we think it is not for us and Wi-Fi is too high tech to worry about.

It is high time you took cognizance of the fact that Wi-Fi is an emerging technology and will be in almost every home and workplace very son. You will begin to appreciate and work on Wi-Fi technologies like you use the mobile phone, portable computer or the PDA. The previous decade was of desktop and wired internet proliferation but the future belongs to handheld mobile computing and wireless connectivity. This is the very reason one has to get acquainted with the new age technologies and learn to work with them.

According to a recent receiarch 98 percent of all new laptop computers produced are Wi-Fi compatible. Apart from this most personal computing products including PDAs being sold in the market are Wi-Fi enabled. When you think of buying any new computer hardware device you must look for Wi-Fi compatible components only. An large and growing number of people are working on these modern technologies to harness their potential for productivity in business, college and even at home.

But you may be wondering what this Wi-Fi really is and how to learn about it advantages and disadvantages. Wi-Fi lends the ultimate mobility and data access to the users and allows them to log on to internet wherever they are, in the train, sitting in a park, on the beach etc. This is perhaps the greatest advantage of Wi-Fi, if an executive is stuck in the airport waiting lounge, he can utilize this time to complete a proposal or catch up with his correspondence or talk to his family. The possibilities are simply endless.

Wi-Fi enabled device means that your computer is capable of working on the high-speed wireless networks being established globally. Any hardware which claims to be Wi-Fi enabled should conform to the stringent norms of the Wi-Fi-Alliance, a California based business organization. Irrespective of who produces these devices, it has to conform to their norms and should be certified by them so that these components will work well with the other devices. Currently the alliance has approved over 865 products, which are being used by over 4.7 million US citizens. This figure is expected to grow to 31 million by 2010.